Allison Walker, Your Home

Will a new year mean a fix to the housing crisis?

Some economists predict home foreclosures will keep rising. That's the bad news.

The good news is that in recent months, the number of home sales each month in Florida continued to rise.

The Florida Association of Realtors said this has happened long enough to make the rebound appear to have legs, but, experts said the pickup in home sales needs to be more significant, while the available inventory of homes decreases.

In addition to rising foreclosure rates, the prices of homes in Florida continue to drop.

The market needs to find a bottom before it can turn around, but price drops should slow as sales increase.

Some experts predicted that will happen in 2009, perhaps by the summer.

Interest rates are currently extremely low, but analysts said that is doing more to help people refinancing existing mortgages than it is to help new home buyers.

With a new administration and Congress in place this month, the pressure is on for a renewed interest in stabilizing the housing market.

The latest numbers show home prices have dropped so much lately, a record was set.

The index fell by 18 percent from October 2007 to October 2008.

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